Think about:
- Privacy of individuals
- Individual rights to storage of personal data
- Consequences of incorrect input data
- Consequences of outdated information
- Access and use of database information
- Release of sensitive data stored in databases
- Responsibility of security of data
- Ethical issues to selling of data in databases

Spreadsheet

- software for manipulating numbers
- good for tasks involving repetitive calculations such as budgeting, investment management, gradebooks, scientific simulations
- can reveal hidden relationships between numbers
- data values can be changed to answer what-if questions

Cell

- intersection of row and column
- initialized empty
- holds numeric values, alphabetic letters, or formula

Values

- another term for 'stuff in a cell'
- can be input from user, result of calculations from formula/function,

Formula

- step-by-step procedure for calculating desired number
- procedure of steps that user specifies, eg. =A1+A2/A4*A3+(A5:A8) is not a function as it is not a pre-programmed formula
- simplest spreadsheet formulas: arithmetic expressions: add +, minus/subtract -, multiply *, divide

Function

- instructions to do a set of predetermined set of calculations
- can be thought of as pre-programmed formulas that the user can't change
- eg. Average: AVE(A1: A3) = "add all numbers from cells 'something' (in this case A1) to 'something else' (in this case A3) up and divide this total by the number of cells"

Cell format

- eg. number, text, date, currency
- how values are displayed can be optionally specified
- cell format 'numeric' can specify the number of decimal places
- can result in illogical outcomes (eg. multiplying a number and a date)

Row and Column

- make up the grid of a worksheet
- make up the malleable matrix
- intersection of row and column is called a cell
- a row and a column make up the address of a cell used to reference the cell

Label

- located at top of columns or edge of rows
- makes it easier for people to understand the numbers
- to the computer, just a meaningless string of characters

Macro

- custom-designed procedure consisting of sequence of steps/instructions

Replicate

- command
- flexible extensions of copy-paste functions
- e.g. Fill down, fill right

Template

- don't have to work from scratch
- spreadsheet templates can contain labels and formulas but no data values

Wizard (spreadsheet)

- automates process of creating complex worksheets for particular needs

Worksheet

- a spreadsheet document

Range

- (technology) set of allowed values for a variable
- (statistics) difference between the highest and the lowest values in a set

Cell reference

- uses a cell/grid reference
- indicates either a cell in the same sheet of the same spreadsheet, a cell in a different sheet of a spreadsheet, or a cell in another spreadsheet entirely
- can be relative or absolute

Absolute reference

- indicated with $ in front of the part concerned of the cell reference

Relative reference

- it changes when the formula it is in is moved or copied

Data reliability

Data integrity

Graph and Chart

- automatically created by filling in blank dialog boxes with data
- functionality offers variety of basic chart and graph types (e.g. pie chart, bar chart, line chart, xy scatter plot chart)
- well-designed chart conveys information
- poorly-designed chart confuses or misleads

Pie chart

- shows relative proportions of parts to whole

Line chart

- Either
- show trends/relationships over time
- show relative distribution of one variable through another
- e.g. bell-shaped normal curve

Bar chart

- similar to line charts
- more appropriate when data falls into categories

Scatter chart

- used to discover a relationship between two variables

Inventory

- the entire stock of a business (includes: materials, components, completed products)

Scientific-visualization software

- involves graphical representation of numerical data to help people understand relationships
- numbers can be result of abstract equations
- not confined to mainframes and supercomputers
- some programs have been developed for PCs and workstations
- makes use of shape, color, brightness, motion
- e.g. Access Grid

2.2.2 Spreadsheets